So, Vista, which is now being pre-installed on virtually ALL Windows PCs, is rapidly gaining marketshare, in place of XP?! OMG?! WTF?!

This is a stupid article. Next article for macobserver, water is wet.

I think the article is good information. Mac users and possible Mac users are not being swayed by Vista and thus Mac's market share isn't being negatively affected by Vista. I know I'm not that impressed with Vista (it does some things very oddly from my viewpoint).

Most Vista users are just old XP users who won't consider Linux or Mac.

Good news for Apple, not good news for Microsoft. Vista is only managing to hold onto some XP users, not getting new users from non-MS OSes.

Vista taking market share away from XP implies that XP is still in the market. I thought that XP was no longer sold.
Seems like a pointless article to me.

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WetcoastBob wrote:
Vista taking market share away from XP implies that XP is still in the market. I thought that XP was no longer sold.
Seems like a pointless article to me.

and

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John Martellaro wrote:
Earlier this week, Net Applications, which tracks OS sales, reported that Vista's market share is increasing and that Apple's is declining. The conclusion by some has been that Vista is taking market share away from Mac OS X.

No, no, no, no. The C|Net article says NOTHING about "market share." Net Applications does NOT track OS sales. It tracks hits on clients' web sites.

It would help to carefully read the article:

"Something's a little weird about the data reported earlier this week by Net Applications, a Web traffic research firm, on global operating-system share. Net Applications tracks what types of computers are accessing the Web sites of its global network of clients, and it thinks that Mac OS X share is flat this year, while Windows Vista use is soaring." (Emphasis added)

John, please update/edit your article so that it reflects what the C|Net article really says. Otherwise, the TMO article not only doesn't make sense, but misrepresents and misleads.

So what - XP-Vista. Of course vista installs and web instances are increasing - it replaces XP just as MS plans it too. But even 5% in 6 mths is probably a sign of poor sales as I believe that is less than rate of new PC sales - ie people/corporates still prefer/buy/install XP over visita in-spite of the marketing pitch.

Vista is not a new operating system, its an update - a very late, somewhat improved, might work with something useful one-day update. If you don't update - MS will turn off full XP support and you have an orphan (just like 98 and NT).

If analysts are going to break out MS Windows variants as a sign of OS 'success' - then they better break out Mac and Unix variants too. I would have thought the important comparators to OS prevalence as intimated above are MS Windows(all versions)installs, Mac OS X installs, unix variant installs, others. That shows a much more realistic picture of market penetration.

Cheers

Why is Vista, which is only the most recent version of Windows, being compared to the entire OS X product, which consists of Tiger, Panther, Jaguar, and all the other introductions over the years?

Maybe when Leopard comes out in October, headlines will say, "Leopard share soars, while Windows sales stay flat"?

It's a shame Vista is supplanting XP, which finally sort of works; I saw it for the first time recently and was underwhelmed. Aero reminds me a lot of the hacks we used to do with Kaleidoscope back in the OS 9 days, I expected something more slick I guess.

On a related note, at my place of work I am occasionally called upon to help people get on the free wi-fi when they encounter difficulties; recently I attempted to assist a gentleman with his Vista machine-it was pointless. It simply refused to even acknowledge a network was nearby. I watched person after person connect easily with XP, but nothing could get this poor Vista guy online. It prompted the general manager, who isn't computer savvy or aware in the slightest to proclaim that they wouldn't touch Vista with a ten foot pole (and she referenced the 'I'm a Mac' ads too! Don't tell me those aren't raising people's awareness!).

Vista is a sad excuse for an upgrade, that's for sure.

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Spotty wrote:
If you don't update - MS will turn off full XP support and you have an orphan (just like 98 and NT).

That's not true. The support life cycle does not really depend on whether or not you go out and buy Vista. End of Life dates have already been announced. Products have a life cycle, and Microsoft publishes this information. For instance, Windows XP is actually no longer supported. Windows XP SP1 is also no longer supported. SP2 will no longer be supported 4 years after its general availability. Apple actually gets some grief from the security community for not publicly releasing this information. It gives people time to plan and budget for upgrades, rather than suddenly be given short notice that their software will no longer be receiving updates. In reality, the opposite of what you say is true. If not enough people upgrade, then support is actually extended. Windows 2000 is long past its support date, but too many people are still using it. Hence Windows 2000 is in what is called Extended Support (no more service packs, but security updates as needed), and we know is scheduled to end too: June 13, 2010. Windows XP (on the latest SP) is still sold, it is scheduled to stop being sold on January 31, 2008, then it will go into, you guessed it, Extended Support until 2014 (on the latest SP). When will support end for Panther or Tiger? When will support end for OS X? Nobody knows. Future support for an Apple OS is a big unknown.

BTW, you can still install unsupported versions of Windows and go get the existing updates, but there will not be new updates coming out.

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Spotty wrote:
Vista is not a new operating system, its an update - a very late, somewhat improved, might work with something useful one-day update.

Oh yeah, same is true for Panther, Tiger, Leopard. They are not new operating systems, but just updates to OS X. They are literally point releases. 10.1, 10.2, coming up to 10.5.